Searching for Answers
by Fred Andrew Oakster
Summary: When Roxas goes to reunite himself with Sora at the Haunted Mansion in Twilight Town, he finds the pod empty. Where is Sora? And how did he disappear? What will Roxas do, now that most of his memories have returned to him?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** _What's up guys and welcome to my very first Kingdom Hearts story! You might know me from some other franchises here on this site and if you do, it's nice to see you again! I hope I can become succesful in this franchise as well and I wish you all, old friends and newcomers alike, a good time reading!_

**Summary: **When Roxas goes to reunite himself with Sora at the Haunted Mansion in Twilight Town, he finds the pod empty. Where is Sora? And how did he disappear? What will Roxas do, now that most of his memories have returned to him?

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Kingdom Hearts. I got some games, but that's it. The rights belong only to Square Enix and Disney.

* * *

**Chapter One: **Where's Sora?

The sun sets red. That's because out of all the colors that light consists of, red is the one that travells the farthest. Roxas remembered Axel telling him that once. Yes, he actually _remembered_ those times again. Or well, maybe saying _those_ times in that sense was a little overboard. It actually wasn't that long since all that transpired, even if it from Roxas perspecive felt like part of someone else's life. _  
_

His spiky blonde hair was caressed by light early evening breeze as the boy sat in his usual spot atop Twilight Tower, watching the sun set over the town he had believed to be his home. However, it had all been a lie. He remembered now. Remembered his days as a member of Organisation XIII, his existance as a nobody, his friendship wit Axel.. It had all been coming back to him, slowly, over the seven days he had spent here in the Digital Twilight Town, and had ultimately returned completely during his fight against Axel at the Haunted Mansion.

He didn't regret going to the mansion. Even though he knew his existance would seize once he returned to Sora, he had sincerely wanted to return to his original. He had nothing left anyway. He couldn't return to the Organisation, knowing what they were planning and what it was Xemnas was truly trying to accomplish. His friendship with Axel was ruined and his so called "best friend" had orders to kill him on sight, should they ever meet again. Roxas had proven at the mansion that killing him wouldn't be easy, but that still ruled out the option of doing anything with Axel. And now, he had come to know that the life he had lived here, in this world, was nothing but lies, nothing but a collection of data put together by DiZ.

Sighing, he leaned back and rested on his back in his spot, laying down on the floor. It was ironic really. Back then, he hadn't wanted to have anything to do with Sora and had went completey berserk when Riku had tried to return him to his original. Now, that he actually wanted to reunite with him, Sora was gone. How come nothing ever went the way he wanted them to?

"Roxas?"

Hearing the soft voice speak to him, Roxas looked up to find a by now familiar blonde girl, dressed in a simple white dress, standing by the corner of the tower. Her clear blue eyes were watching him cautiosly, as if she didn't know if she should be happy or scared that she found him. Well, maybe that was to be expected. The last time she had tied to talk to him, both DiZ and that hooded guy, whom Roxas could now guess was Riku in disguise, had come to abduct her practically tear her away from him.

"Naminé." he said, sitting up and meeting the girl's gaze.

For a moment, two pairs of sea-blue eyes were gazing intently at each other, silently reading the other and meassuring each other up. So much had transpired since the last time they met. Well, more so to Roxas than to Naminé probably, but it still felt so different to see the other again, to both of them. Taking a deep breath to gather her bearings, Naminé stepped out from behind the corner and walked over to where Roxas was sitting by the edge.

"Can I sit here?" she asked, motioning to the spot to Roxas' left.

"Sure, no problem." Roxas shrugged. He really didn't have anything against Naminé. Quite the opposite in fact. Though he had felt a little angry at her for the way she spoke about nobodies, about him, back during their meeting a the mansion, he didn't blame her for those views. It was DiZ who held those views, DiZ who had forced those ideas into Naminé's mind. She wasn' to blame for thinking those things when she spent most of her time in close proximity to that creep.

Having been allowed her spot, Naminé sat down next to Roxas though, unlike her fellow nobody, she refrained from letting her legs hang out over the edge and instead pulled them up to her chest. She then looked over at Roxas, who did not meet her gaze this time and instead opted to stare back out into thin air towards the sunset. She took this opportunity to take in his appearence, especially the way he was dressed.

"You're wearing your coat again." she stated, feeling a little uneasy at seeing Roxas in that coat. "Does that mean you're going to leave?"

Roxas nodded.

"Yeah, I have to go look for Sora." he said with a slight hint of irritation in his voice. "Troublesome guy, the only time I actually wanted to find him and become one with him again, he disappears."

At this, Naminé giggled slighty, causing Roxas to look away from the sunset and give her a look of slight irritation. Naminé returned to look with a weak smile. She was as worried about Sora as everyone else, probably more so than most since he had disappeared from _her_ watch, but she couldn't help but laugh at the truth of Roxas' words.

"Sorry." she apologized when she saw the look on Roxas face. "It's just... he always was that kind of guy. If you wanted him to do something, he would always do the opposite and if you thought he would act a specific way, he tended to act completel different."

At first, Roxas was surprised that Naminé seemingly knew Sora that well, but then he almost mentally slapped himself in the face. Of course, she would know everything about him. She had told him that she could manipulate Sora's memories so of course she knew a lot about him. She would have to see his memories to manipulat them the way she wanted so it would be logical she knew him pretty well.

Then again, Roxas also had some access to his memories. He was Sora's nobody after all. He was fully aware that what he had from Sora were merely glimpses of memories that were especially strong within him, but he could at least remember most of Sora's adventure with the Keyblade.

"Yeah, I know. I just didn't think even he could mess anything up while he was in a comatose state." Roxas said with annoyance.

This seemingly surprised Naminé, as she gasped when Roxas said he knew about Sora's general behavior. To her knowedge, Roxas had never actually met Sora, so it couldn't from a physical encounter between the two, and that only left...

"You remember now? His memories, I mean."

"Yeah." Roxas confirmed. "Not all of his life, but I remember most of his adventures with the Keyblade up to the point where I myself was created at least, when Sora impaled himself with that strange Keyblade. From there on out, I just got my own memories."

Naminé stared at Roxas. Sure, Roxas had received memory-flashes from Sora before, she knew that much, but she hadn' expected him to actually be able to recall his memories of Sora. But then, when the shock from the reveal had disappeared, she smiled at the memory that Roxas had pointed out, a memory that actually connected the two of them somewhat.

"Did you know that I was created in that same moment? When Sora impaled himself with the Keyblade of People's Hearts."

Hearing this declaration, Roxas eyes widened in shock as he turned back to look at Naminé. Was she trying to pull his leg? No, she was definetely serious about this, but how could that be? Seeing his confused face, Naminé set to explain what DiZ had told her.

"You see, at the time Sora tried to free Kairi's heart from within himself. Kairi herself can't turn into a heartless, so it stands to reason that I was created when Sora released Kairi's heart, and his own, from himself and became a heartless. So in a sense, I am both his and Kairi's nobody. That's why I got power over his memories." she explained it best she could.

For a moment, Roxas just kept staring. Then, the pieces clicked together in his mind and suddenly it all made a lot of sense. That one moment, when Sora had realized that Kairi was a Princess of Heart and had attempted to free her heart from inside himself had been one of the strongest and most emotional memories he had so Roxas could remember it quite clearly. It made sense that Naminé was born from when Kairi's heart was released from Sora's body, since Kairi herself couldn't become a heartless. And it also explained something else...

"So that was why I connected to Kairi instead of you when I called out to you? Because you are her nobody and she is your original!"

Now, it was Naminé's time to be confused. Connected? Called out? What in all worlds was Roxas talking about?

"What do you mean? Did you speak to Kairi?" she asked, staring at Roxas with disbelief.

Roxas was actually a little surprise that Naminé didn't know about what had happened. Then again, considering what he knew about DiZ, it stood to reason that he hadn't seen the need to tell Naminé that Roxas had fallen off Twilight Tower.

"A little while ago, I fell off from Twilight Tower because of a strange blackout I had because of Sora's memories interferring with mine." he explained, causing Naminé to gasp and pull one of her hands up to her chest in a sign of shock. "When I fell, I tried to call out to you. I asked if you knew what was going on and why this was all happening to me, but instead of reaching you, I came in contact with Kairi."

This served to shock Naminé even more. Since Roxas was still in perfectly healthy condition, she guessed that DiZ had just rewritten the code for the world so that Roxas hadn't fallen off the tower, but the fact that he had actually managed to get through to Kairi, even from inside the Digital Twilight Town... And how had he connected to her anyway? And better yet, what had happened?

"W-what did she say?" Naminé wondered. She herself had wanted to speak to Kairi for a long time. Ever since finding out that she was a nobody, Naminé had wanted to meet and talk to her original. Not about anything special, she had just wanted to talk to her. How come Roxas got to talk with her, but Naminé didn't? It was so unfair!

"Well, to start things off she reprimanded me for calling her by your name." Roxas chuckled, remembering the puzzled voice that had spoken back to him when he had reached out towards Naminé. "When I mentioned that I knew her from _his _memories, she immediately asked me about Sora's name. Turns out she remembered that he had existed, but couldn't remember his name."

Naminé stared as Roxas finished his little tale. Kairi had actually remembered that Sora had existed? Even if she hadn't been able to recall his name, that was strange. Not being aware of Sora's sleep to restore his memories in the first place, she shouldn't even have been able to remember him at all! Was it because they shared such a strong bond? Yeah, that had to be it, there was no other explanation!

"So, did you tell her his name?" Naminé kept pushing for answers, intrigued by the boy sitting next to her. There was so much more to Roxas than what met he eye. He wasn't just a Keyblade wielder and a nobody, or just a former Organisation member. He was full of surpises!

"Well, I did. And that actually kind of worries me a little." he said as he stood up and held out his hand in front of him, his left hand to be exact. In a flash of light, Oathkeeper appeared in his grip and Roxas gripped the handle tightly before pulling his arm back and studying the Keychain at the end of the Keyblade. Indeed, it looked too similar to the Good Luck Charm Kairi had been working on to be a coincidence.

"Why does that worry you?" Naminé asked as she too rose from her seat. "Shouldn't that be a good thing? That Kairi knows Sora's name?"

Roxas however didn't hear the question. He was too caught up in his own thoughts. Why did this Keychain look so similar to Kairi's Good Luck Charm? Up until the point Roxas could remember, Kairi had never gotten the chance to finish it completely, but he knew that a lot of time had passed since then, so it would stand to reason that she might have finished it after his own birth. Was there any connection between this Keychain and Kairi's Charm? Were they downright the same? It would make sense if Kairi had given the charm to Sora that Roxas would have inherited that Keychain when he used Sora's Keyblade. He had to know more about what had happened to Sora after his own birth.

"Uhm... Roxas?" Naminé said and shook him gently to try and get him out of his thoughts. "Is there something wrong?"

Snapping out of his thoughts, Roxas turned back to Naminé. She was eyeing him with curiosity gleaming in her blue eyes, pleading with him to let her know what he was thinking about. After a moments contemplation, he decided to let her in. Even if she told DiZ afterwards, or if he forced it out of her, there was nothing he could do about it. With his strenght mostly restored to full, Roxas felt confident he could handle whatever DiZ could throw in his way.

"Do you see this Keychain, Naminé?" he asked, holding up Oathkeeper so she could see.

Blinking in surprise, Naminé focused her gaze at the star-like object hanging from the end of the Keyblade and after thinking for a second, she gasped and quickly turned back to Roxas, staring at him with disbelief.

"So you see it too then? It can't be a coincidence that it looks so similar to Kairi's Charm. There has to be a connection, somewhere down the line. I feel like if I meet Kairi and talk with her, I might find something out that will help point me in the right direction."

Naminé took a second to process this. Yes, she remember that Charm clearly from Sora's memories, but what did that have to do with anything? Sure, it was strange that the same charm that Kairi had given to Sora would reappear as one of Roxas' Keychains, but how could that help point Roxas in the right direction?

"So, you're going to Destiny Islands then? What for? Kairi won't know anything about where Sora is, she haven't seen him for over a year!" Naminé questioned his plan of action.

"Well," Roxas said while looking back out over the town below them, "Kairi might not know anything about Sora's whereabouts, but she might know something about him that could help point me in the right direction. I mean, I do have most of his memories but I never knew him. She might know something _about _him that I don't. Also..." he made a short pause to consider if this really was what he wanted, "I need to tell her not try and go after Sora herself. She might not be able to do much, but if the opportunity presents itself I don't doubt she wil thow herself into danger if it meant a chance to find Sora. I can't have her doing that"

By now, the sun had almost completely set and it was starting to grow dark around them. Neither of them really minded the darkness, as they were both born from it, but it showed them how much time had actually passed and the longer time went, the greater the risk was that DiZ or Riku would find them. Even if Roxas was confident he could handle DiZ and even Riku, he would prefer not to confront the two if he could avoid it. Naminé for her part, felt like she would need to leave soon or she would get caught. DiZ would've already noticed that she wasn't in her room and she didn't want to cause more trouble than she was already in.

"Regardless of the reasons, I need to go see her, if not only to make sure she doesn't do anything rash. I might not be Sora, but I am part of him and Sora would never let me live it down if I let her go and get herself hurt because of him." Roxas said bitterly. He wasn't angry at Sora. It wasn't his fault that he was the original and Roxas was the nobody that had to disappear forever. He was just angry at the world itself and its unfairness.

"Well," Naminé said, "if you think that's gonna help in some way then I won't stop you."

Roxas actually chuckled a little at that.

"As if you could stop me even if you wanted to." he said and grinned towards the blonde girl, who pouted and placed her hands on her hips to show her displeassure at Roxas trying to downplay her.

"I got power over Sora's memories _and those close to him_, remember? I could completely erase your mind if I wanted to!" she said in a threatening tone, though a playful smile tugged at her lips.

Being reminded that she could indeed completely mess up his mind if she really wanted to Roxas swallowed. He didn't want to lose all his memories again, not after having gone through so much trouble to get them back. Though he was pretty sure she was joking right now, he made a mental note that he should never upset Naminé, or she might see if fit to make reality of her treat.

"Uhm, no thanks! No mind-messing please!" Roxas said while scratching the back of his head in embarrasment.

Naminé did her best to keep her threatening and disapproving face up, but failed miserably and broke into a fit of giggles at seeing Roxas face. She never giggled normally because she had never had a reason to before, but Roxas face was just to funny. Though Roxas seemed a little sour at her at first, he soon joined in as they both broke out laughing.

When their laughter had died down, they stood there for a little while, looking at each other with smiles tugging at their faces. To Roxas, laughing honestly again felt good. He had laughed once or twice during his time with the computer-Hayner and Gang, but it had felt kind of faked. This laughter right now was coming from deep inside him, where his heart should've been if he had one.

To Naminé, who had never had any actual friends or any reason to laugh sincerely before, the sensation felt strange but welcome. The smile she gave Roxas as they looked each other in the eyes felt different from the ones she usually wore. It felt warm and it made her feel good. Was DiZ really sure that nobodies couldn't have hearts? Because she could swear that this feeling was real.

"Well," Roxas broke the silence, "I should get going. We won't get any closer to finding Sora if I stay here."

Giving Naminé one last smile, he reached inside himself and tapped into the Darkness. It felt strange to open a Corridor of Darkness after having spent what felt like a long time living as just an ordinary boy, but he was pleased to find that his ability to do it hadn't decreased one bit. As Darkness surrouned him on all sides, he felt the familiar pull in his stomach as he was sucked into the Darkness and left DiZ's Digita World behind, aiming for Destiny Islands.

**-:SFA:-**

It was completely dark outside. The moon was high in the sky and there wasn't a villager who was outside. The inhabitants of Destiny Islands were sleeping, resting to prepare for the day that would arrive with dawn. Everyone was asleep. Everyone but one.

On the second floor of the Mayor's Mansion, a young girl about 15 of age kept rolling around in her bed, unable to relax enough to allow sleep to take her. She was exhausted after yet another hectic day of her life and yet, she couldn't sleep. There was just too much going through her head at the moment. This entire last year had been one big struggle, trying to remember the name of her best friend and being worried sick for the other. Just a few days ago, she had finally gotten to know her friend's name when that strange guy, Roxas, had gotten into her head and told her his name.

Sighing, Kairi sat up in her bed and removed the blanket to try and chill her body from the inense summer heat. Why she was even sleeping with a blanket in the first place when it was so god damn warm outside was beyond her. Sure, it made her feel more covered up and she liked to cuddle up underneath the soft material, but the heat kept fer from getting any decent sleep at all and she already had trouble sleeping to begin with.

Who was Roxas? And what was his connection to Sora? What had actually happened to Sora? Was he okay? These and thousands of other questions kep repeating themselves in Kairi's mind. She had to find answers. Ever since remembering Sora's name, she had felt helpless. She had thought that remembering his name would put her at ease but it actually made her feel worse than before. Not remembering her best friend's name had made her feel bad and all but remembering his name, knowing he was out there somewhere and maybe fighting for his life, made her feel restless and frustrated. Her best friend's were out there risking their lives for the fate of all worlds and here she was, doing summer homework and playing daddy's little girl and for what? She should be out there with her friends!

But how could she get off this island? If she recalled correctly now that her memories of Sora had been restored, he, Donald and Goofy had used a Gummiship to travel between worlds but she had neither a Gummiship nor te Gummiblocks to build one. She wasn't even sure if those blocks existed in her world.

She sighed again and threw herself down against her pillow. It was hopeless. She just couldn't do anything. Back when Sora had decided to go back t lock Hollow Bastion's Keyhole and confront Ansem, she had asked to come with him but had been turned down. She had asked Leon and the others if any of them had any way to travel between worlds when she was there, but they had been unwilling to help her out, even Aerith who was usually very kind and helpful towards her.

Was it because she was a Princess of Heart? Was that the reason why everyone treated her like she was some kind of glass statue?! Because she supposedly carried a "pure light" within her? If so, she didn't want anything to do with it! She hadn't asked to be a Princess of Heart!

Feeling her heart beat faster as a result of her frustration and sweat pour down her face in floods, Kairi removed some strands of sweaty auburn-red hair from her face and got out of bed. She stretched out and slowly walked over to the window to open it up and let in some fresh air. And that's when she felt it.

Somewhere, not too far from where she was currently standing, Darkness was pouring into the world. It wasn't much and it was gone as fast as it had appeared, but it had definetely been there. She stopped in her tracks as she felt her heart freeze over with fear. The last time Destiny Islands had been in contact with Darkness, it had resulted in an Invasion of Heartless and she definetely didn't want that to happen again.

Looking around the room, searching for any sign of abnormality, Kairi slowly made her way towards the window. If there were indeed heartless closeby, chances were that she was their target. With no Keyblade Wielder left on the Islands and nothing else from the outside world, she was the only logical reason for anything dark to come here. After all, she was a Princess of Heart, and heartless were drawn to consume light. And if that was really what was going on, she might need to make a break for it and the window was her best bet. Yes, she was on the second floor but she was confident that she would be able to land gracefuly enough to not break anything and continue onward.

Just as she turned around to open the window, she looked down on the ground down below. And felt her heart freeze over with fear. There, just a few feet outside of her house, stood a figure, completely covered by a black coat with a hood covering his face from view. Judging by the way the hood was situated though, the figure was lookin towards the second floor, straight towards her.

Kairi felt her lower lip tremble and swallowed as she pracically _felt_ the stranger's eyes watching her from within the dark hood. However, she didn't move, mainly because she couldn't. She was frozen in place, staring down at the stranger with fear evident in her eyes.

'_Dammit Kairi!'_ she reprimanded herself mentally. '_Why are you so scared?! You've survived a Castle full of Heartless and a full scale invasion of your home world! This stranger haven't even moved yet!'_

However, just as she thought it, the stranger _did_ move. Slowly, he raised his hand into the air and held it up towards her. Kairi felt herself taking a protective step backwards. Was he going to use magic or something? Was he gonna throw a spell at her? She knew a little about magic as Aerith had told her a little about it while she was staying in Traverse Town. However, what the stranger did completely caught her off guard.

In a flash of light, a very familiar object appeared out of thin air and placed itself in the stranger's outstretched hand. It was large, with a golden handle and a silver blade, resembling a sword slightly in form and a giant Key in general. It was...

'_Sora's Keyblade!' _Kairi thought with shock, her fear completely forgotten by the sight of her best friend's trademark weapon. Was Sora back?! Was that him standing out there?!

After a few seconds, the stranger allowed the Keyblade to disintegrate and turned around, slowly walking away from the house, down the street towards the beach. Kairi stared after him, wondering what the hell was going on! Was that Sora? It had definetely been his Keyblade! But why would Sora hide his identity in t scary cloak? Had he lost the Keyblade to someone else? Could that even happen?

For a moment, Kairi just stood here and watched as the stranger slowly walked away. She wanted to follow him because no matter if it was Sora or not, it was at least someone form the worlds outside. Even if it wasn't Sora, maybe this guy had any clue as to where he was? What should she do?

She wanted to find Sora. More than anything in the entire world. But what if it was a trap? This guy definetely didn't give the impression of being trustworthy. To be honest, it was quite the opposite. This guy was the definition of creepy. But he might be here only chance to get off this island, but at the same time... would it be worth it if it meant she was captured by some creep? What if he had some evil agenda, like Ansem had? She was a Princess of Heart. That was reason enough for any kind of creepy guy to want to capture her.

Looking back down on the street ouside, she swallowed. There really was only one thing she could do. It was probably the worst thing she could do in this situation, but she just couldn't stay here when there was a chance to get away. She had to find Sora, and this guy obviously had a connection to him in some way at least, be it good or bad.

Without making a sound, she quickly crept over to her wardrobe and pulled out the most comfortable set of clothes she could find, got dressed and sneaked out of her room. Silently, she crept down the hallway towards the stairs. Thankfully, both her adoptive parents were fast asleep and she could hear her father's snores clearly from within her parent's bedroom.

As soon as she got out of the house, she quickly made her way over to where the stranger had stood. The night was warm and calm and if she hadn't been out on such a nerve-wrecking business, Kairi might have been able o enjoy the light summer breeze blowing through her hair. As it was, she just stopped for a moment and swallowed. While she was determined to do this, she would be lying to herself if she said that she wasn't scared. She knew absolutely nothing about this guy she was about to follow, and she had to admit that it was set up to be a trap. But it was her only chance of getting off this island. The longing in her heart to see her best friend again was too strong.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself as best she could, Kairi began walking down the same path as the stranger in the black coat had taken. Despite her attempts to stay calm, she could feel her heart beat rising the further down he path and the further away from her, somewhat, safe house she came. Sweat was pouring down her forehead, partly because of the summer heat, partly because of her nervousity. She continously licked her lips in anticipation and her chest felt like it had been frozen over. Despite all of this going on, she barely registered it.

All she could think about was Sora.

She saw his face in ront of her, smiling. That was what kept her going, down the dark path that the stranger had taken. That was what gave her the courage to carry on. Did he look different now? Surely he did, it had been over a year since she last saw him. She knew for a fact that she herself had changed drastically over the last year.

Thinking about how different Sora mightlook now, trying to imagine his how his face would look like now, Kairi turned around the corner of the street. Now, she had to stop and think. Where had the stranger gone after this point? Surely if he had intended for her to follow him, the guy had left some kind of clue behind to point her in the right direction.

"A little too trusting, aren't you?"

Hearing the sudden voice behind her, Kairi began to turn around when she felt something sharp and hard press against her back and froze. Suddenly, the fears she had been trying to keep at bay came back to her. What had she been thinking?! She had been so caught up in her desire to see Sora that she hadn't even considered how wrong her plan could go! She had thought that allowing herself to be captured and taken off this world would be a good thing. How could she have been so stupid!

Feeling the reality of what it was she had been trying to accomplish overcome her, Kairi clenched her fist and grit her teeth in frustration. Had she really been that blind? Feeling her blood boil in her veins at her own stupidity, Kairi took a deep breath to try and steady herself from the confrontation that was to come.

"Good thing for you I didn't come here to abduct you, Kairi." the stranger said with a little softer voice and she felt whatever it was that had been pushed against her back being removed.

As soon as the sharp object had been removed, Kairi took a step forward and spun around. There he was, standing just behind where she had stood up until a moment ago. His black coat still covered his entire body and his face was hidden in darkness. Despite the claim that he was there to abduct her, Kairi didn't want to be fooled after coming so close to making that mistake. And she still ran the risk of being fooled.

"Who are you?! What do you want with me?!" she exclaimed.

Just as she said this, Kairi noticed the object (or rather "weapon") that the stranger still held his hand. A black, sword-like object was hanging losely from the stranger's right hand. Though she recognized it as some variation of Keyblade, it definetely wasn't the same one that she had seen through her window.

"Well," the stranger said, " I am here to talk to you, Kairi."

Hearing te stranger speak her name, Kairi flinched slightly, but she didn't let it affect her. Of course he would know her name! It would have been strange if he had come here looking for her without even knowing her name. He did sound calm enough though, and his voice didn't carry any sign of hostlity. Quite the opposite, he almost sounded a little worried over something. However, Kairi did not let down her guard.

"But not here, not now. This place is too open. I'll meet you tomorrow in your special , your litte "secret", place for our little... talk."

As he spoke those last words, Kairi felt like she had been hit in the face. The secret place! How did this guy know of the secret place?! By now, she had completel ruled out the possibility that this was Sora in disguise. Sora wouldn't have gone through all this trouble just to tell her that! Not to mention no matter what happened, Sora wouldn't under any circumstances press a weapon against her back, even if it was meant as a joke! But then, how could he know about the secret place? Only she, Sora and Riku knew about that... Riku! Could thatbe it?! Was this Riku in disguise? That would definetely make more sense, and that would explain why he had Sora's Keyblade.

After Hollow Bastion, Sora had told her all about what had happened to Riku, including the story of the Keyblade and how it had originally been his. Back then, te Keyblade had chosen Sora over Riku when the two of them had clashed, but if Riku had been redeemed from what he had done... who knew what would happen then? Was it possible that the Keyblade had gone back to Riku?

"Well, cya." the stranger said as a Corridor of Darkness flared up behind him and he took on step backwards before it closed again.

Hearing him speak up again, Kairi was snapped out of her thoughts.

"Wait!" she tried to stop him, but the door had already closed behind him and disintegrated before the words left her lips.

Left behind was a very distraught Kairi. What was going on? Who had that stranger really been? Was it Riku? If so, had something happened to Sora? Was that why Riku was back? But how could she be so sure that this was Riku? Aaaaah! If she tought that her questions had been killing her before, this was pure torture! What? Was she just supposed to go back to bed after this and wait for answers until tomorrow?! Hell no! She had her own boat and she knew her way past all the reefs on her way to the island like she knew the back of her own hand!

However just as she was about to burst off in the direction of the shore, she froze in place. Had she just been about to dash off into potential danger again? Sure, the stranger seemingly didn't mean any harm, but the keyword there was "seemingly". There was still a chance that this guy had some hidden agenda or something. After that scary epiphany where she suddenly realized her mistake and what it could cost her when she felt that keyblade press against her back, Kairi wasn't too eager to have a repeat of that.

Hesitating for a moment, her logical mind managed to fight down the urge to run after the stranger again right now, and she sighed. Waiting just a few hours longer wasn't that bad. And she couldn't even be sure that the stranger would show until morning anyway. Not to mention that _if _it really was a trap, she would be able to prepare much better if she waited until morning. With that thought in mind, Kairi turned around and began to slowly make her way back towards her house. This would be a long night.

* * *

**A/N: **_And that's it for the first chapter. Might not be too exciting, but please stick with it if you like Kingdom Hearts because I want to believe I can make a good job at this story! Also, I want to point out that **pairings are undecided**, except for Sora and Kairi that is. I just feel like those two are made for each other and I really don't see them with anyone else. Don't crucify me for it! _

_Also, this chapter gave you a good view of two different styles of writing that will be present in most my fics from now on. Before, I've always been very detailed in what I write and explain the "main" character's thougts on everything that happens, like the second part of this chapter that featured Kairi. If you compare that to the scene with Roxas, I didn't go as much into detail with his thoughts unless it was really needed and that will ge more common from now on. Just to let you know!_

_That being said, I hoped you enjoyed the chapter and that you will keep reading this as more chapters come out. If you have read any of my other stories and was drawn here because it's me, well please forgive me for starting another story. I did write a note in my Profile that explains my plans for the future and hopefully that might explain where your liked story went and where it stands. _

_I'm currenly away at a Scout Camp for a week, but I'll try and get the next chapter up as soon as I get some free time! This is Fred Andrew Oakster, signing out!_


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: **_WHAT'S UP GUYS?! And welcome back to another chapter of Searching for Answers. I apologize for short chapters, but I'm at a tight schedule and try to get chapters up at a decent pace. If you would rather have longer chapters, you would most likely have to wait longer between them. Tell me if you would prefer that! Also, I encourage all of you to leave a review, even if your just a guest! So far, Kingdom Hearts is the least populated franchise I've written for so there is an overhanging risk that I will have to prioritize other stories if I think that this one doesn't get enough people reading. _

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Kingdom Hearts. All I own is a set of games from the franchise, but I own no rights. Those belong solely to Yensid and Xine Erauqs.

* * *

**Chapter Two: **Who is Nobody, you ask?

Despite Roxas departure, Naminé decided to stay atop the Clock Tower for a little while. It gave her a strange sense of peace to be sitting up there, breathing in the clean air and just looking out towards the setting sun. However, that only served to confuse her further. She knew that she was a nobody. She knew that technically, she wasn't supposed to exist. However, what was really a nobody?

DiZ had told her that nobodies did not have feelings, and any emotions they tried to display or felt were only illusions caused by their memories of their former lives as normal humans. While she had initially accepted DiZ's view on nobodies when he took her under his wing to help her restore Sora's memories, her late interractions with Roxas had caused her to doubt DiZ's view slightly.

Did she really not feel anything? Just now, when she had stood here with Roxas and laughed, she could've sworn that the happiness she had felt must have been real. And now that she thought about it, all that misery that Organisation XIII had put her through at Castle Oblivion shouldn't have affected her at all if she didn't have any emotions, because it should've felt natural to her.

Naminé didn't have any memories from her life as Kairi. The only reason she even knew that she was Kairi's nobody was because DiZ had told her so as soon as he had found out himself. If the so called "faked" emotions that nobodies felt came from experiences in their previous life, then how come Naminé could still feel them even when she didn't have any memories?

And then there was Roxas himself. She knew for a fact that before DiZ captured him, he barely had any interaction with Sora's memories at all. He probably hadn't even known whose nobody he was for a long time. But she also knew that Roxas had acted out of his own accord and had even went against his surperiors when he defected from Organisation XIII. Were those supposed to be the actions of someone who, supposedly, had no feelings?

Sighing at her own doubts, Naminé pulled her legs closer up towards her chest and shook her head. Why was she having so much trouble thinking this over, if she supposedly had no real feelings? That in itself made this all sound so absurd. Had DiZ lied to her? Had he fooled her into thinking she had no feelings in order to control her and use her powers for his own agenda? So far, all he had done was supply help to her, so she could restore Sora's memories as fast as possible, but there was no saying why he was doing that or if he had another agenda behind that.

So far, DiZ had been a good caretaker. A little on the cold side maybe, but he at least tried to keep her alive and well. He didn't deny her the right to go out once in a while and he didn't lock her up in a blank room just to keep her under control, like Marluxia had done. However, it was easy to tell that he didn't feel any actual care for her as a person. He wouldn't care if she died, as long as she accomplished her goal of restoring Sora's memories.

And even if the feelings they, as nobodies, felt weren't "real" in the same way as humans, they still felt them, right? Who was DiZ to decide that their feelings weren't worth anything compared to normal humans?

"So there you are?" a deep voice asked from behind her.

Looking over her shoulder, Naminé spotted a tall figure, dressed in a coat similar to Roxas'. While she still felt pretty uneasy around people in that attire after her time as a hostage at Castle Oblivion, she easily recognized the voice of this man and knew who he was.

"So you finally found me." she said as she stood up.

"You shouldn't stay out so long at night, or you might catch a cold." the man said with an emotionless voice.

Naminé almost snorted at that reply. "Was that really the reason why DiZ sent you to get me? Or simply because he wants to keep me under surveilance?"

The man didn't answer and instead opted to just reach out to grab her by he arm. Naminé however, was faster. Not really feeling like being bossed around, she took a step back and instead opted open up her own Corridor of Darkness. She was gone in a wisp of black and left Riku with his hand still outstretched in the air. For a moment, Riku didn't move, but soon he sighed and let his hand fall to his side.

'_She's becoming more rebelious by the day_.' he thought. '_Guess Roxas must be rubbing off on her.'_

Despite what DiZ had told him, Riku stayed behind and allowed Roxas to leave, knowing full well that even if he could stop him they would have a better chance at finding Sora if Roxas was out searching as well. None of them knew why or even how Sora had disappeared, but Riku knew that he alone had a pretty bleak chance at finding his friend. Roxas, while not an ally, would at least increase the chance of Sora being found.

'_Well,'_ he thought as he held out his hand and opened up his own Corridor of Darkness, '_I guess I too should be going then.'_

And with that, he stepped into the darkness and allowed himself to be swallowed, leaving the Digital Twilight Town behind. He would need to find Sora, no matter what it took.

**-:SFA:-**

Barely had the sun rose over the skies before Kairi had left her house and made her way to the shore. Despite her resolve, she had been unable to go back to sleep after what had happened yesterday. She had done just what she had decided and waited, trying to prepare as best she could for whatever could happen when confronting the stranger. But as soon as the village had begun to wake up, she had left and went straight to shore.

She would be lying if she said she wasn't tense. Despite the stranger's behavior, she knew virtually nothing about him and she couldn't yet write him off as neither friend, nor foe. Riku for one hadn't joined he darkness because he wanted to bring destruction and ruin worlds, he had been fooled by someone who had acted as an ally to him and aided him in his own quest to find her, Kairi, when their trio had been separated, just like Sora had done with Donald and Goofy. The same could still apply for this guy.

However, he was her only chance to find Sora. He obviously had a connection to him somehow, since he had Sora's Keyblade, but how she didn't know. It could still be Riku, but the more she had thought about it, the more she had come to realized that her initial hope at it was her old friend had begun to dampen. For one, Riku had always been a lot taller than Kairi and this stranger was about the same height. She was pretty sure that Riku would still have been taller than her, even with all the growing she had done over the last year.

Also, while Riku had always been a little less of the cheerful and more of the dim kid, she had a hard time believing that even he would press a weapon against her back. After she had gotten back to bed, she had thought back to her confrontation with Ansem back in Hollow Bastion. When Ansem had tried to raise his hand against her, Riku had forced back Ansem's control over his body through sheer willpower because he refused to be part of hurting her. She was highly doubtful that he would press a weapon against her back now.

But that left the question as to who this stranger actually was? She couldn't think of anyone else she knew of that could possibly have Sora's Keyblade, so she would have to assume that this would be a new acquitance for her. She had prepared best she could, but if this guy was dangerous there really wasn't a lot she could do. Back in Traverse Town, Aerith had taught her a little about magic and how to use it, but it had mainly been Cure Spells they worked on and the only offensive spell she actually knew how to cast was Fira. That wouldn't count for much, but it was all she had.

As she closed in on the island, she fel anticipation build in her chest and she swallowed as the morning mists parted to reveal the shore of the islands she knew so well. For as long as she could remember, this island had been as much a home to her as her own house and she knew it inside out. Right now however, it almost felt intimidating to her, despite the familiarity. Once she set foot on that island now, there was no turning back. But she had to go through with this. She had to know about Sora. What had happened to him? Had he found Riku?

With that in mind, Kairi jumped out of the boat and made her way up to the little entrance to their secret place. She felt her heart beaing in her chest rapidly and she had to swallow yet again to keep her breathing under control. She was just human after all, and this was all but a calming experience.

When she entered the small cave, she immediately began looking around for anything out of the ordinary, more specifically a stranger in a black coat. As she made her way into the deepest part accessible to her, she eventually found him standing by a very specific painting: the very first paintning that Sora and Kairi did together after Sora had shown her the Secret Place. And it was also the same one that both Sora and Kairi had added a Paopu fruit to, before and after they left Destiny Islands, respectively.

"I see someone finished Sora's addition to this painting." the stranger spoke without turning to look at Kair. "Though I guess, I should have expected as much from you, Kairi."

Okay, now this was getting really creepy. How could this stranger know that Sora had added the Paopu fruit after the initial painting? It was such a trivial detail, why would Sora disclose that to anyone? And how could this guy "expected" her of all people to add to the painting afterwards, once Sora had done his part? This guy gave Kairi the creeps.

"Well, I did as you asked and waited. Now tell me, just who are you?!" Kairi said. Her uneasiness around this guy caused it to come out much harsher than she had initially intended, but to be completely honest she didn't really care.

For a tense moment, the stranger didn't move a muscle. Kairi held her breath as she awaited the answer, not wanting to miss out on any sound the stranger might make by breathing. After a few seconds of waiting, the coated guy reached up towards his hood and pulled it down, revealing the face of a boy who seemed to be about Kairi's age. He had short, spiky blonde hair and clear blue eyes. While she hadn't for a second expected him to be old, she hadn't expected to be met by such a young face when the hood was pulled down.

"My name," the stranger spoke, "is Roxas. As I already explained, I am here to talk to you."

At the mention of the name, Kairi felt recognition come upon her. Roxas? SHe recognized that name! He was the one who had told her Sora's name! The one who had helped her remember her best friend!

"I can tell by our expression that you remember me? Then this will be easy." Roxas said and leaned his back against the wall.

Quickly shaking her head, Kairi tried to regain her composure. She didn't know him. She recognized his name, but that was it. She knew practically nothing about him. Come to think of it, how come Roxas had been able to remember Sora's name while she, his supposedly best friend, had not been able to?

"How do I know you're not trying to trick me?"

Hearing the caution in Kairi's voice, Roxas sighed. It was clear to him that her experiences in Hollow Bastion and during the Invasion of Destiny Islands had made Kairi a little more cautious. She still was nowhere near as cautious as Riku was, but she was getting there. Standing back up straight again, Roxas summoned boh his Keyblades, Oathkeeper and Oblivion, and threw them into the ground between them. When the two weapons appeared, Kairi tense and took a few steps back, but when Roxas discarded them on the ground she seemingly relaxed. That was, until she noticed something.

"Where's Sora's Keyblade? I saw you wielding it yesterday!" she questioned suspiciously.

Sighing in exasperration, Roxas leaned forward and lifted Oathkeeper off the ground for a moment, just long enough to switch its Keychain back to the Mickey Symbol, and then put it back where it had been before. Kairi's eyes widened when she saw the Keyblade flare up in a flash of light, before changing into its original design and then being put back again.

"There, happy? Now will you please just calm down and hear me out?" Roxas said with growing irritation at the girl in front of him.

"How did you do that?" Kairi demanded. "Why do you have Sora's Keyblade? Do you know him? Just who are you?!"

Roxas groaned in despair and sank back against the wall. He didn't remember Kairi being this annoying, ever. He silently wondered if Sora would stil feel as attracted to her if he could see her now? Of course, under the surface she was probably just as sweet as he, or rather Sora, remembered, but all this uncertainty was getting the better off her and it was really getting annoying.

"I'll explain all of those things if you will just listen to me!" he said with a slightly harder voice than he had used before. "Now sit down and listen! I can't explain anything if you don't listen to what I say!"

Kairi at first looked like she wanted to do the complete opposite and keep on throwing questions in Roxas face, but she stopped herself at the last moment and, after a few moments of hesitation, sat down on the ground. Roxas breathed a sigh of relief, though he also noted that she still kept her hands at the ready, just in case he tried anything.

"Alright, as I already explained my name is Roxas. I can wield Sora's Keyblade because I am his Nobody." he said, relishing in being able to speak normally.

Just as he thought, he unfamiliar term brought a frown to Kairi's face.

"What do you mean? What's a Nobody?"

"Well, I guess you could say that it is the opposite of a heartless, but at the same time they're quite the same. As you already know, a heartless is born when someone, a somebody, loses his heart. The same thing applies for a nobody. If a heartless is born from the lost heart, a nobody can be born from the empty body of the one who lost his heart."

Hearing this, Kairi felt as if a cold hand had gripped at her heart. It took a moment for her to process what she had just been told, but as soon as she did her mind immediately went to the natural conclussion from what she had learned, along with what Roxas had just told her.

"Sora's lost his heart?" she whispered with horror.

"Not recently." Roxas hurried to cut in before Kairi could panic about what possible state her friend might be in. "I am a result of Sora losing his heart back in Hollow Bastion. Remember he turned into a heartless briefly back then?"

Hearing this, Kairi released the breath she had held since realizing what Roxas existance had to mean. Yes, she remembered that clearly. Seeing Sora as a heartless had been one of the worst experiences in her life. However, what stood out to her the most back then was the fact that despite being a heartless at the time, Sora had not attacked neither her, nor Donald or Goofy, showing what strong bonds he shared with all of them.

"Good, now that we got that cleared out, we can move on to discussion here." Roxas went on when he saw that Kairi had calmed herself somewhat. "In a sense I know Sora, in a sense I don't. A nobody in general keeps his memories of when he was human, unlike a heartless. Even though I initially didn't have any memories of Sora due to some... complications surrounding my creation, I have gotten most of his memories back afterwards."

However, Kairi was barely listening. Her mind had began to wander off and further process what Roxas had told her. If a heartless and nobody were both part of the human they had once been, and Roxas was Sora's nobody, then that meant...

"So, in a sense you are Sora, right?" she asked hopefully, looking up at Roxas with glimmering eyes.

Roxas sighed. He had really hoped that it wouldn't come to this. He didn't want to call himself a "part" of Sora. He felt like a different person, he looked like a different person, he behaved like a different person... He acknowledged the fact that neither him nor Sora could be whole without the other, but he didn't recogize himself as Sora, even though he was in a sense. However, could he lie to Kairi?

"I would be lying if I said that I wasn't. But we are completely different from each other. I didn't know I was even connected to Sora until just a while back. I am myself and he is himself. Please don't look at us as if we were the same person, or you will just be making it harder on yourself."

He was terrible at explaining himself, he knew that. He had never really had any reason to explain his actions to anyone. If the other members of te Organisation thought badly of him for what he did, then that had been fine as long as he still had Axel. And now that he thought about it, even in the Digital Twilight Town he couldn't remember ever having to explain himself to anyone.

The light that had sprung to life in Kairi's eyes dropped tremendously at that and Roxas couldn't help but feel guilty. She looked down at her feet in disappointment and in that moment, Roxas could really see the similarities between Kairi and her nobody, Naminé. It pained him to think that they were most alike when Kairi looked broken and sad, because it spoke heavily about how Naminé actually felt about her life, but it also pained him to see Kairi so sad. He was still connected to Sora, after all, and Sora valued Kairi over everything else. He was racking his brain for anything comforting to say to her, but before he could come up with anything, Kairi opened her mouth.

"I'm sorry, I just..." however, she trailed off and didn't finish her sentence.

"Don't apologize." Roxas said and tried to give Kairi a comforting smile. "I'm sure Sora is alright, wherever he is. Which actually leads me to the reason I'm here."

For a moment, Kairi didn't move. But then, she shook her head and looked back up at Roxas. To Roxas surpise, her eyes weren't sad or tearfilled, like he had expected. They were a little moisty, suggesting that she had been close to crying, but through that moisture, a burning determination was shining though, like a beacon of light in a dark night.

"I'm sure he is. Sora's strong, he can take care of himself!" she said. "It's just... I wish I knew where he was. I haven't seen him in so long."

Amazed at the resolve and determination shown by the red-haired girl, Roxas stumbled upon his words for a moment, honestly not sure what he should say. While he was glad that she had such belief in Sora, god knew he himself needed more of that, it also complicated one of the reasons why he had come here.

"Well," he said, trying to come up with something to say, "I'm sure he wishes he could see you as well, wherever he is. You mean a lot to him."

That was probably a futile thing to say. From what Roxas could remember, Kairi would have had to be all kinds of stupid and mentally disturbed not to have noticed that Sora cared a lot about her and liked her over the years they had spent together, but he couldn't come up with anything else to say. Despite that, Kairi seemed to appreciate the gesture, because she offered him a smile.

"Thanks Roxas. But tell me, if you're not here as Sora, then why did you wish to see me?"

Glad they had moved past the emotional part of the discussion, Roxas crossed his arms over his chest and sat up a little straighter.

"For two reasons actually, but let's start with the most important one." he said and held out his hand in front of him.

A second later, the Kingdom Key on the ground between them vanished in a flash of light and reappeared in Roxas hand, only to change back into Oathkeeper a second later. This time, Kairi didn't tense up, showing that she had begun to trust Roxas, probably because he had told her about his connection to Sora. Casting a quick glance at Oathkeeper's Keychain, Roxas proceeded to rise from his position and walk over to Kairi, who looked back up at him with curious eyes.

"Tell me Kairi, do you recognize this Keychain?" Roxas asked and held out Oathkeeper so she could see what he was talking about.

Kairi frowned, but leant forward to study the object in question. However, it didn't take her long to recognize the Keychain. Just a second after she had laid eyes on it, her eyes widened in surprise at seeing the familiar object.

"My Good Luck-charm!" she exclaimed in shock. After having spent a second staring at the object, she turned to look at Roxas, who straightened out and vanished Oathkeeper, to show that he didn't have any hostile intentions. "I gave that to Sora after I finished it, back in Traverse Town after we escaped Hollow Bastion!"

Roxas nodded, having had his suspiscions confirmed. So it really was the same charm that Kairi had made. And she had given it to Sora, just as he had suspected. That explained how he had been able to wield Oathkeeper and how they were connected.

"So you did finish it then. Anyway, as you can see it is used to power up Sora's Keyblade now. I don't know when or why Sora began using it as a Keychain, but in turn I, as his nobody, have access to it. I couldn't remember you ever even finishing it, so I wanted to confirm that he was indeed the same one."

However, the revealation that her Good-Luck-Charm was still intact seemed to unsetted Kairi more than it calmed her. There was a strange look in her eyes, as she processed the fact that the Keychain on Roxas Keyblade, and the Good-Luck-Charm she had given Sora, were one and the same.

"S-Sora turned my Good-Luck-Charm... into a weapon?" she whispered.

"Uhm..." Roxas said, at a loss for words. He hadn't thought about that before. "I guess you could call it that, but I think his reasons were different from what it sounds like. He probably thought about it as you sharing your power with him or something like that."

Roxas mentally patted himself on the back for his quick thinking. That definetely sounded like something Sora would think or say. Guess he wasn't Sora's nobody for nothing. What was more, Kairi seemed to perk up a little at hearing Roxas trail of thought, obviously also hearin the typical Sora-ishness of that statement.

"You're right, it was probably just like that." she laughed and tried to offer him a smile.

This morning had been very trying for Kairi. Revealation after revealation and she wasn't even sure she undersood it all completely. She still wasn't exactly how Sora and Roxas were connected and it confused her greatly as to why Roxas would seek her out like this. It couldn't be simply because he wanted to show her that Keychain, there ahd to be something else.

Then, there was also the fact that Sora had used her good-luck-charm as a means to strenghten his Keyblade. It wasn't that she really minded it, she was glad that she had been able to help, but it felt strange to know that something she had crafted with her own hands could be used in such a way. She knew that Sora would never turn his Keyblade on anything other than heartless, but even then a weapon was a weapon, and Sora had used something she had created to make that weapon even more dangerous. It just felt... wrong to her.

"Anyways, I am not sure exactly what happened between Hollow Bastion and now, but I do know that somewhere down the line, Sora lost a part of his memories due to the interference of another nobody, like me, who was able to alter his memories and in order to restore them, he had to go to a deep sleep approximately about a year ago. That is probably when your memories of him began to fade, because my friend was trying to restore his memories."

Hearing Roxas continue his explanation of why he had sought her out, Kairi pushed her worries to the back of her mind. She had to listen closely to what he was saying. Somehow, she knew that Sora had to be jambled into this mess.

"The last part of restoring Sora's memories would have been for me to return to him, meaning that I had to give up my own existance in order to wake him up." Roxas explained what situation he was in and was about to keep on talking, but Kairi interrupted him.

"WHAT?!" she screeched, causing Roxas to flinch in surprise at her sudden outburst. "What do you mean you had to give up your own existance?!" she kept on yelling, horrified at the very idea that someone would have to sacrifice their life in such a way.

Taken aback by Kairi's unexpected outburst on his behalf, Roxas stared at her speechless, giving the redhead some room to keep going, something she did without hesistation.

"I don't understand. Why would you need to give up your existance just to wake him up?! Was there really no other way?"

As she said this, she stared at Roxas with a harsh, yet fearful look. She wasn't angry a him. Not even close. Rather, she was angry _for _him. What did he mean "give up his existance"?! Could the world really be so cruel, as to force someone to just "give up" their life in order to wake someone else up? And wasn't Sora's sleep induced by someone? Why couldn't that person wake him up? It just didn't make any sense to her!

"In order for Sora to fully awaken again, he would need to be whole, to be complete. As long as I exist alongside him, he will never be complete, because I am part of him and he is part of me. It's the same for you and your nobody, Kairi."

This, if possible, shocked Kairi even more than any of the previous revealations she had been given that morning. This all just sounded so bizzarre, but this last crucial reveal caused her mind to completely lose track of how any of his could possibly make any sense. She had a nobody? _She _had a nobody? Hadn't one of the requirements to create a nobody been to create a heartless as well? As far as she knew, she had never turned into a heartless, not even when she lost her heart and got trapped inside of Sora's heart. She was a Princess of Heart, she was supposed to be "Pure Light", so no matter what, her heart couldn't turn into a creature of darkness, like a heartless, even if it was lost. So when could.. wait a sec!

"My nobody was created when Sora turned into a heartless as well, wasn't she? I've never turned into a heartless, so the only time when my heart left a body and that body turned into a heartless was when Sora released my heart back in Hollow Bastion." she whispered with horror once more evident in her voice. Roxas however, all but confirmed that she was right with the smile he gave her, showing just how relieved he was that he wouldn't have to explain that part to her.

"You're catching on quickly." Roxas said, pleased that at least he wouldn't need to explain the creation of Naminé because to be honest, he didn't quite understand it himself. "But we're getting off track. The underline of my previous statement is that in order for Sora to wake up again, I had to reunite with him. I was about to do just that, but when I went to reunite myself with him, Sora disappeared."

Well, that was the short version of it. He left out the part where he was a member of an evil organisation that tried and was still trying to create an artificial Kingdom Hearts by capturing hearts from defeated heartless. And he also felt like he should avoid mentioning that he had faced off against Riku in a battle that could possibly have ended up killing the older boy, if said boy hadn't given in to the darkness in his heart. After having already been led off on more sidetracks than he had thought possible, he didn't want o leave any more chances to do so open.

Hopefully, the revealation that Sora had disappeared would cause Kairi to completely forget about anything else that he might have let slip. And he wasn't disappointed, when Kairi's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to answer.

"Sora's disappeared?! B-but... w-wha..." Kairi tried to answer, but it just became too much. After shock after shock after shock in less than 30 minutes, Kairi's mind just went blanc. She felt dizzy and her vision began to blur and became unfocused. She couldn't breathe normally, it felt like someone was trying to strangle her. She was barely aware that Roxas was calling her name, obviously worried for her, but it felt as if the sound was coming to her from the other end of a very long tunnel. She tried to cry out to him but couldn't make a sound, and instead felt herself falling backwards, into darkness, before she blacked out.

**-:SFA:-**

"You let Roxas get away?!" DiZ's furious voice echoed through the halls of the Haunted Mansion in the Real Twilight Town.

The hostility in his voice gave Naminé about two seconds of warning to crouch, before a vase came flying towards her and was broken into pieces upon impact with the wall behind her. The shards rained down over her and the blonde girl instinctively covered her head with her hands in order to shield herself from harm. The furious man on the other side of the room clenched his fist and slammed it down on the desk in front of him, causing paintings, calculations and pencils alike fell to the floor.

A second later, Naminé heard a metallic crash somwhere above her head, followed by a thump, suggesting that DiZ had went ahead and tossed something else across the room. She had known that DiZ would be displeased at her for being out late and even more so for not stopping Roxas from escaping, but she had never expected him to react this violently. He was usually a very collected individual. To see him this upset was... unnerving.

However, she didn't have time to worry about DiZ's violent behavior, because a second later she felt someone grabbing her by the hair and pulling her up against the wall. She yelped in surprise and had to bite her jaws tightly together to keep from screaming as DiZ slammed her harshly against the wall and fixed her with a single, rage-filled, yellow eye. Despite feeling like her hair was being pulled off from her head, Naminé glared back defiantly at DiZ.

"Why didn't you stop him?!" the enraged man demanded, tugging even harder at the girl's hair, as if that would force the answer out of her faster.

Naminé gasped at the violent motion and felt tears threaten to spill from her eyes from the pain. However, she swallowed down the urge to weep and tried to fix her caretaker with an angry glare, though it probably came off as more of a pained stare.

"What could I have done?! I don't know how to fight! He would've squashed me if I tried anything!" Naminé tried to defend herself and made an attempt to get loose from DiZ grip, but the man just gripped her hair harder and shook her head violently, causing an unwilling gasp of pain to escape Naminé lips.

"You could've erased his memory! Or mindjacked him or whatever you want to call it!" DiZ growled, before he smashed Naminé's head against the wall.

As her head made contact with the solid wood, Naminé cried out in pain. That was definetely going to leave a mark. The tears in her eyes finally spilled over and she fell to the ground, sobbing uncontrollably as DiZ finally let go of her. Her mind barely registered the steps on the wooden floor that let her know that DiZ had moved away from her, though she was thankful that he had. She wanted to put as much distance between them as possible.

Why? Why was she so weak? All she wanted was to prove herself to someone, so that they would like her, so that they would _care _about her. That was all she really wanted, to have someone care about _her, _for someone to like her but it would seem that the world wanted to deny her that luxury. The Organisation had used that desire in order to have her mess with Sora's memories. She had done it willingly because she wanted to have Sora as a friend. In hindsight, ithad been foolish to try and gain friendship the way she had. It had been doomed to fail from the beginning.

Swallowing down the urge to cry from her still aching head, Naminé lifted herself off the ground and glared at DiZ, who had his back turned towards her. He didn't seem bothered by the slighest about the abuse he had exposed her to just now. He didn't care for her, neither did anyone else. Or well, that wasn't entirerly true. Sora _did _care for her. Even though she had tricked him and messed up his memories, in the end, he had forgiven her and promised her that they would be friends for real once he woke up. That was why she was doing this, why she was striving to restore his memories.

But DiZ didn't care. Why did he even want to restore Sora's memories? He had never told her, she had just trusted him because he had helped her protect Sora during the process and she needed all the help she could get. That was all, plain and simple. She was doing this for Sora, not for DiZ. If he thought he could just come in here and turn her into some tool of his, then he was mistaken!

Suddenly, the pain in her head didn't hurt as much. It was still there, but it was becoming less intense and was eventually completey drowned out by a burning determination that was slowly making its way into her. Enough was enough! She would not be used like a tool EVER again! Not by the Organisation, not by DiZ, not by ANYONE! But where would she go? She needed to find Sora, he was her friend! He had promised he would be, once he woke up. But she didn't know where Sora was, so who would...?

Roxas.

She had to find Roxas. Even though he wasn't as friendly with her as Sora, he was still at least friendly towards her. He hadn't tried to use her and he had no reason to want to use her power for some hidden agenda either. On top of it, he was a nobody just like her. He was someone who had been used, just like her, by the Organisation. Maybe he could understand what she was feeling? Maybe he could explain to her why she was feeling anything at all, when she supposedly had no real feelings?

Feeling this new determination spread through her system, Naminé rose from the ground and clenched her fist. If she was lucky, Roxas hadn't moved past his initial destination in his search for Sora. She could still catch up to him. Taking a deep breath and giving DiZ's back one last dispsiseful look, Naminé reached inside herself and tapped into the darkness that was part of all nobodies, allowing it to well out of her and engulf her in a Corridor of Darkness.

Hearing the darkness open up behind him, DiZ turned around and his one visible eye widened in surprise when he saw the Corridor of Darkness open up. He cursed under his breath and quickly began to move towards it in an attempt to stop the girl, but was unable to do anything as the Corridor closed and Naminé left the mansion, setting course for Destiny Islands.

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**A/N:** _Second chapter up! I hope that I did okay. Aside from that, I got nothing to say, but express my hopes that more people will like this story eventually. Until next time!_


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